Eric's Thoughts

This is another short one, but this verse just made me smile.

Acts 14:17 Yet he has not left himself without testimony: He has shown kindness by giving you rain from heaven and crops in their seasons; he provides you with plenty of food and fills your hearts with joy.

Paul said that the the Lycaonian’s. It is just neat to me how God in His mercy and grace blesses even unbelievers as a testimony to Himself.

Wow, look at me go.  Another blog two days after the last one.  I’m on a roll.  This will be a short one.  I was doing my devotions this evening and got hit by this verse:

James 3:17  But the wisdom that comes from heaven is first of all pure; then peace-loving, considerate, submissive, full of mercy and good fruit, impartial and sincere.

It got me thinking about my time at camp, and the “wisdom” I displayed there, especially the last year or two.  I don’t think peace-loving, considerate, submissive, or impartial really applied to me.  That makes me sad.

 

So since Ashley has been done with work she has been cleaning/re-organizing the house.  It is looking really good, but I wanted to post a picture of my part. Behold my computer desk:

Basically Ashley has been doing all the work.

I’ve kept busy though.  I built Ashley a new desktop computer, which I finished last week.  I got a backup NAS for our server (finally).  After backing the server up I promptly wiped it, installed two new hard drives and instead of my usual Ubuntu install fired up UnRAID.  I’ve just about got everything copied back from the NAS to the server and I’ll be doing more configuration (backups etc.) this week.  In case you are curious, we now have 5TB of storage on the server and about the same on the backup.  Should we run low on space the server it can be expanded to 12TB (technically I can go much larger than that but it would require more hardware).  It makes me happy.

The weather has been snowy and cold.  Billings has gotten over 70 inches of snow this winter.  If this keeps up we may break 100 inches before spring.  That might be fun.  The Fit has done much better in the snow than I thought it would.  Since one of my fears when buying it was that it wouldn’t do well in the snow that is a relief.

I’ll stop there as I haven’t really got much else to say.

I had no idea what to title this blog.  Christmas was good.  We got to MN and back safely.  I got caught up at work, and now have gotten a bit behind again.  Ashley and I are still trying to figure out where to move to, or if we should stay in Montana.  We are considering follow up trips to both Idaho and Duluth, MN.  My Security+ test is this coming Thursday (the 18th).  I finished my book last week and I am working on getting a few things memorized for the test.  Ashley will be done with work in three weeks.  It is bitter sweet for her to be leaving.  We’ve started a news letter (via email).

Well, that is all the new stuff in no particular order.  I came across this verse tonight as I read and it got me thinking.

John 20:16  Jesus said to her “Mary.”  She turned toward him and cried out in Aramaic, “Rabboni!” (which means “Teacher”).

I just wonder if I recognize Jesus voice when He says my name.

So I’ve been a bit discouraged recently.  I’ve been feeling behind at work (though I am starting to get caught up).  I’ve also been discouraged with expenses.  Since we got our new car our car insurance has doubled.  I know this, but I forgot to take into account that we haven’t had the full six months needed to save for the payment.  It was higher than I thought.  We’ve been saving to get the truck into the shop as it desperately needed front end work.  They called me today and it is going to cost double of what we had saved.

I found myself down over all of this and then realized how silly I am.  God has taken care of us in the past, is taking care of us now, and will take care of us in the future.  I got my Christmas bonus from work, and it will cover the car insurance with some left over.  We have the funds to cover the repair job on the truck, and Ashley is going to have a bigger pay check next week.

Jesus repeatedly said to his disciples “Oh yea of little faith…”  At least I’m in good company.  I read this passage in John tonight and it was encouraging to know that Jesus prayed for me.  It is so difficult for me to grasp that the God of the universe cares for and loves me.  Not in some vague way, but for me as a person.  It is one of those basic things that is repeated over and over again but that doesn’t seem to go from my head to my heart.  Any ways here is the passage:

John 17:20-25 … My prayer is not for them alone. I pray also for those who will believe in me through their message, that all of them may be one, Father, just as you are in me and I am in you. May they also be in us so that the world may believe that you have sent me. I have given them the glory that you gave me, that they may be one as we are one – I in them and you in me – so that they may be brought to complete unity. Then the world will know that you sent me and have loved them even as you have loved me. Father, I want those you have given to me to be with me where I am, and to see my glory, the glory you have given me because you loved me before the creation of the world. Righteous Father, though the world does not know you, I know you, and they know that you have sent me. I have made you known to them, and will continue to make you known in order that the love you have for me may be in them and that I myself may be in them.

This has turned into a rather lengthy post, and as usual I re-read it and realize that it only partially conveys what I am trying to say.  Oh well.

It isn’t the most inspiring title, but it is accurate.  For whatever reason Ashley and I have been very tired the last week or two.  We had a good time at the fall ball last weekend, unfortunately we didn’t get any pictures.  I’ve temporarily switched my certification studies.  I was going for Linux+ from CompTIA, but I’ve decided to do Security+ first.  If I pass the Security+ exam by January, it will renew my A+ and Network+ certifications for another three years.

Not much else is new.  I’m going to bed.

It has been a busy summer.  We did get to ID, and it was a good trip.  Ashley has been very busy at work.  We had to go back to AZ for a funeral the first week of October.  My work PC has died two times in the last three weeks.  After much searching we settled on HumHub for our family social network, and we have a live beta version running now (family only).  My mother-in-law Brenda is visiting.  Ashley and I are very tired, and could use some rest.  We will be going to the fall ball this weekend.

All of that is the bullet list short version (minus the actual bullet list).  I was reading my Bible tonight and this verse hit me:

John 12:25  (Jesus speaking) Anyone who loves their life will lose it, while anyone who hates their life in this world will keep it for eternal life.

I fear I love this life too much.

Before I get into the title of this post, an update is in order.

Ashley and I had another really good date.  We went to the Huntley threshing bee and it was a blast.  We’ve ordered a four inch mattress topper so we can sleep in our car.  Assuming it gets here in time we’ll be able to test it this weekend.  Our center armrest got here and I installed that.  I’m still working on finishing the paint touch up.  Assuming Ashley can get the time off we’ll be visiting Idaho over Labor Day weekend.

Enough rambling.  Here is the passage that got me thinking:

Luke 11:5-10 Then Jesus said to them, “Suppose you have a friend, and you go to him at midnight and say, ‘Friend, lend me three loaves of bread; a friend of mine on a journey has come to me, and I have no food to offer him.’ And suppose the one inside answers, ‘Don’t bother me. The door is already locked, and my children and I are in bed. I can’t get up and give you anything.’ I tell you, even though he ill not get up and give you the bread because of friendship, yet because of your shameless audacity he will surely get up and give you as much as you need.” “So I say to you: Ask and it will be given to you; seek and you will find; knock and the door will be opened to you. For everyone who asks receives; the one who seeks finds; and to the one who knocks, the door will be opened.”

The phrase that caught my eye was “shameless audacity.”  So often I feel like if I pray and ask for something I want (vs something I need) I’m being selfish and it is a “bad prayer.”  I don’t think this is the case.  I think it is ok to ask for things.  God can always say no.  Later on in the passage it talks about how if we who are evil give good gifts to our children how much more will God give good things to those who ask (actually Matthew says good things, Luke says Holy Spirit).

I feel like the above thought is incomplete, but I’m tired and it is time for bed.

 

So it wasn’t quite all day.  We slept in, made breakfast, and cleaned the kitchen.  We were on the road by about 11.  It was a fun day.  We drove up, we drove down.  We stopped and looked at interesting things.  We verified that Cooke City really is as small as we remembered.  Here are a couple of pictures, though to tell the truth everything looked much better in person.

The Marshmallow handled the trip like a champ.  No complaints.  We stopped and picked up Chinese food on the way home.  I would say it has been the best date we’ve been on all year.

Sorry, no pictures this time, just an update.  The Marshmallow has been through a week of normal life.  I have to admit driving the new car to work is just as mundane as driving the old one.  The car did get egged on Wednesday night/Thursday morning.  We cleaned it off and there doesn’t seem to be any paint damage.  The roof molding we ordered arrived, and we installed it.  We also purchased a second key yesterday.  We have so far spent about $170 on our new car.  We’ve still got to touch up the paint, get the windshield patched/fixed and purchase a center arm rest.

Ashley and I are doing well, though we are both having trouble getting back in the groove.  It is still hot here and that doesn’t look like it will change anytime soon.

Ashley has made a new sign/picture which we will hang somewhere.

 

 

 

 

If you flip the sign and rotate it the text is on the other side is vertical instead of horizontal.  I’m tired and my words are failing me, but once again my wife has proven her creativity and ingenuity.

I’m going to quit while I’m ahead (or at least not far behind).